At annual festival, photographers from the continent challenge 'Afro-pessimist' narrative

The results of such explorations can be problematic. When the
Swiss-Guinean photographer Namsa Leuba traveled to her mother’s native
Guinea for the first time, hoping to probe the mystical aspects of her
African roots, she took sacred statues and fetishes and attempted to
“separate [them] from their religious context in order to immortalize
them in a Western framework.” Many villagers, however, considered her
images sacrilegious and reacted to them with hostility. The experience
helped frame the photographer’s later works.

“I constantly question myself,” says Leuba. “Through a lens, I test my
self-analysis and I put myself up for discussion. In some ways, my
photographs are judgments, or accusations.”

While Leuba’s series for LagosPhoto, “Cocktail,” explores
contemporary representations of the African woman’s body, the lavish
photos — originally commissioned by the Paris-based fashion and culture
magazine WAD — burst with a colorful boldness and insouciance that seem
to speak to an Africa that is increasingly young and urban. Indeed, many
of the participants in this year’s festival are conversant in the
visual tropes of hip-hop and fashion, something that artists like
Chiurai suggest will be a powerful force for Africans photographers
shaping a new narrative for their continent.
“There’s a different language that my generation uses,” he says. “The
population is younger now. We have a greater voice in all of this.”